


Anchor

by Ishtar12



Series: Know Thy Worth [1]
Category: teen wolf - Fandom
Genre: Alpha Derek, Derek Uses His Words, Fluff, M/M, Magic Stiles, Pack Feels, Stiles Angst, Stiles Feels, Supportive Scott, emissary stiles
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-27
Updated: 2017-01-27
Packaged: 2018-09-20 06:17:35
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,557
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9479117
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ishtar12/pseuds/Ishtar12
Summary: Wolves aren't the only ones that need an anchor.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Herein lies my first attempt at a teen wolf fic, and all my character knowledge comes solely from Sterek fics, so please be kind. 
> 
> This is part of my attempt to be a more consistent writer - I found a prompt list via Pinterest. The day's prompt was "Smoke", and unsurprisingly, there is very little to do with smoke in this. Whoops.
> 
> Feedback would be greatly appreciated so I can grow as an author! :)

“Dude, I need you to breathe right now, okay? Seriously, don’t crash, man.”

Stiles slapped at Scott one handed as he yanked the jeep around yet another bend in the dirt road. “You are not fucking helping, just shut the hell up.” He hated how shrill he sounded, hated how his fingers sparked uncontrollably.

Scott caught Stiles’ flailing limb, holding his arm tight to Scott’s chest. “It’s okay. We’ll get there in time. It’s okay.” 

“They have my Dad, you placating son of a bitch. Nothing about this is okay!” Stiles yanked his hand free before he could do more than shock Scott, resettled his hands on the wheel hard enough to draw a squeak from the leather. He focused on keeping each inhale and exhale exactly three beats of his heart long, determined to get the magic to settle back under his skin. 

Something darted across the road, large and furred, and far too close. Scott slapped at the wheel, which sent the jeep off into the woods. Stiles shrieked as he fought both wolf and gears in a desperate bid to avoid another entry in the ‘Jeep versus Insert Thing Here’ tally . 

“Are you fucking kidding me?” He snarled once they’d stopped, “Are you actively trying to kill me?”

“But that was -”

“Derek.” Stiles breathed, eyes wide. He scrambled out of the jeep, nearly fell into Derek’s arms, and shoved hard at his naked shoulders. “Derek, you can’t be here, oh my god.” 

Red eyes flashed from Stiles’ face to Scott even as Derek scooped both of Stiles’ wrists together in one of his broad hands and held them away. Stiles pulled, ignored the panic clawing its way up from his belly when his fingertips began to glow. He had a time limit, he had to go, he had to get Derek to stay away, he had to not freak out and accidentally do something stupid like lose control. 

It took an endless moment to realize the low, guttural noise originated from Derek’s chest. 

Scott whimpered.

“I need you to listen to me, Derek.” Stiles bit down on the inside of his cheek, used the sharp pain to ground himself, coaxed his heart and breathing to settle. He needed to focus, one thing at a time. Step one, keep Derek away. Step two, get Dad. Step three, don’t die. Simple enough. “You cannot be here.” 

Derek crowded close, pressed Stiles’ arms back against his own chest. “Do you,” he started, each word precise, despite the sudden fangs. “Do you understand what pack is? What it means to declare yourself one of us?” 

Stiles gave a high pitched whine. “You know I do,” he managed. “I do, Derek, I swear, you know I do.” He could feel warmth curling through him, pooling where Derek’s hand held his wrists tightly together. His magic had always liked Derek, which seemed beyond cruel, all things considered.

“Oh?” Derek drawled, his eyebrows arching as his lips curled into a sarcastic, open mouthed smile. “Really.”

“Derek, please.” Stiles tugged his arms.

“Pack is your family, pack is your strength, pack is your reinforcement and your safe haven.”

“I know, dude, I get it. Pack means Ohana.” He stumbled when Derek let go with a shove.

“Then explain to me what the fuck is going on here, Stiles, because all I see is one stupid beta charging after you - and I heard you tell him to stay away tonight, so I know he followed you -,”

“Super hearing doesn’t make eavesdropping on personal phone calls okay, big guy. And are you seriously mad at Scott for trying to look out for me right now? Also, this is not your business, so go be somewhere else.”

“Uh, guys?” Scott said “Is now really the time for this?”

“Shut up, Scott,” both men snapped. 

“Clue me in, Stiles. What harebrained scheme is it this time? Or are you abandoning us, is that why you can’t be bothered to let the rest of us know what's going on?” Derek snarled, claws flexing.

Stiles gave a full body flail. “What? No!” 

“Then explain to me why the fuck one of my betas, who only declared pack loyalty because of you in the first place-” with a grunt, he hauled Scott from where he’d been hovering in the driver’s open door and left him to sprawl across the dirt. “Is on his way to meet with the Cole Alpha? Psycho pack of drug-runners, ringing any bells? And you, whatever the hell you are -.”

Stiles’ hands planted themselves on Derek’s chest, shoved with all his strength, human and magical. His chest heaved as he watched Derek’s arms pinwheel in an effort to keep his balance.

“Whatever I am? Whatever I am to you? Is that what you were going to ask?” He shoved him back another step. “Or did you mean the pack? Because last I checked, I was nothing to you, because that’s how you like it.” 

A third shove and Derek’s back thunked against the trunk of a tree. “I tried, you asshole, I fucking tried, and you shot me down every single time.” Stiles planted himself in front of Derek, inches from the Alpha’s shifted face. It wasn’t the smartest thing he’d ever done, but he’d be damned if he backed down now.

“I’m the weak, useless human, right? The magic user afraid of magic. Not that it fucking matters, I can’t be the pack’s Emissary without you, and you don't want me. You’ve made that shit crystal fucking clear.” He moved to smack the back of his hand against Derek’s chest. Derek caught his wrist instead, careful to avoid skin with his claws.

“What am I doing out here, Alpha? Why aren’t I being a good little not-beta, tucked away at home? You wanna know?”

Scott’s hand settled on Stiles’ shoulder, and refused to budge when Stiles tried to roll it off.

“Because they,” Stiles threw his free hand out into the darkness, “They fucking know it too. They know that I’m the weak link, that I’m not really pack. I’m the easy in, and they took him, Derek.” Stiles’ voice broke. He sucked in a breath, blinking rapidly to clear his eyes. Scott’s hand squeezed his shoulder, and vanished.

The soft, lost look on Derek’s human features barely registered. “Stiles, that’s not...”

“They took my Dad. Left a note. Said if I was Emissary enough to ‘come collect what is mine’...” He trailed off, let himself fold over with his fists pressed into his eyes, the crown of his head against Derek’s arm. “My Dad, Derek.”

After a beat, he straightened, clenching his fists by his sides as he glared into Derek’s slack face. “They declared an Emissary challenge, Alpha Hale. They took Dad as insurance.” 

“Shut up,” Derek interrupted. “Just shut the hell up for one second.”

Stiles threw his hands up. “I’m doing my job, I’m trying to protect you,” he cut himself before he could start screaming. “I don’t have time for this.” His hands sank into his hair and pulled.

“It’s a trap.” Derek said, flat and empty. His eyes darted over Stiles’ face.

“Of course it’s a trap,” Stiles muttered, as his arms wrapped around himself. “That’s the entire point behind you can’t be here!”  
“That doesn’t make any sense, though,” Scott cut in. “If you know it’s a trap, why didn’t we call in the rest of the pack? I thought we were just getting your Dad back, not having a magic show down.”

Stiles barked a mirthless laugh. “Okay, first of all, I freaking told you not to come so what you thought I was doing is your own problem, man. Second, I refuse to be the bait for the rest of you, since they either want to keep me or use me to snap up betas. Third, they have my Dad, they’re after my pack. I wasn’t exactly planning on playing by the rules.”

“Why betas?” Scott asked over Derek’s deep growl. “Why not Derek?”

Stiles turned slightly, to see Scott’s bewildered face.

“Because,” stiles snapped, arms flying wide again, “even though they challenged me as the Hale Emissary, they also told me they know that’s not actually my position in the pack, that I’m barely pack at all.”

Scott shook his head. “You’re pack, bro. Trust me.” His fingers waggled by his temple, like that meant anything to a non-Scott person.

“They said they know I’m unclaimed,” Stiles bit back. “That my Alpha doesn’t want me. The point is they’re after the pack, and they probably figured out that if I go missing, you come looking, and if you go missing, Isaac and Allison come next, and blah blah. It’s why I tried to do this alone. I can’t let them get any more of the people I care about.”

“No,” Derek hissed. “You goddamn idiot. What the hell has Deaton been telling you that you actually believe a word of that bullshit?” Derek slapped a hand over Stiles’ mouth when he whipped back around. “For once in your life listen to me, because they’re playing you, which you’d know if you weren’t so worried about your Dad.” He waited until Stiles nodded before releasing him. 

“They’re taunting you, hitting you with your own insecurities. If I’d known-.” Derek dragged a hand down his face. “Later, we need to talk about this, because you’re wrong.” He sucked in a breath.

“An Emissary to Emissary challenge is a challenge to the territory, to the pack. Their Emissary will have their Alpha to draw on in the fight, but getting you to come alone would make it harder for you to draw on me, on our pack.” 

Stiles’ eyes widened as Derek spoke. He rolled his lips between his teeth and tugged at his wild hair. Scott eased close enough to bump shoulders.

“Without our Emissary, without you,” Derek reached out and shook Stiles, hard enough to rock his head back, “We’re vulnerable. The ‘wolves are connected to the land, but you are part of it, part of the land and part of us.” Derek stepped closer, pressing himself along Stiles’ front, edging Scott away. “We are the flesh, but you are the blood.”

“What?” Stiles whispered.

“You’ve been the Emissary for this territory since the first time you used your magic to protect it. The Nemeton called to you, and you took it into yourself.” Derek dragged his nose up the thick, pounding vein in Stiles’s neck. “You claimed this land as yours before you even knew magic existed. The Cole pack wanted to get you alone, make you easier to take down. Not me.”

“But you…”

“You’re pack, Stiles. You’re good enough for us, too good for us. We need you with us. We want you with us. You’re ours, you’ve always been ours.” Derek’s voice grew more and more throaty as he spoke, until he nearly purred the words into Stiles’ skin. “All you have to do is claim us, Stiles. We’re already yours.”

Stiles couldn’t think. His wrists and fingers tingled. His magic thrived so close to Derek, wanted to curl its way along Stiles’ arms. He couldn’t focus enough to stop it.

Derek seemed to cocoon him, his body wrapped around Stiles’ own as he continued to talk. “You’re so young, Stiles. I wanted to give you time, let you be sure. Let you go if you needed to. Let you choose us if you didn’t. You needed to choose for yourself.”

Stiles whined, his eyes filled with water.

Derek swept a thumb under Stiles’ eyes. “All this time, I’ve been waiting for you to find your anchor, to settle inside yourself… and you thought we didn’t want you. I’m so sorry, Stiles. I should’ve realized. I should have asked.”

“You could ask now,” Stiles said, voice hoarse.

“Do you want us, Stiles? Are you going to choose us?”

“Yes,” Stiles breathed into Derek’s hair. Something sparked in the arches of his feet, each nerve and vein alight in his legs as it crawled ever higher.

“Are we yours?”

“Yes.” The shivery sharp vines wrapped around his hips, sank into his stomach and made it hard to breathe.

Derek tilted Stiles’ head back, forcing his eyes to flutter open. Stiles wasn’t sure when he’d shut them. He found himself caught in the bright garnet of Derek’s gaze. 

“Will you let us choose you? Are you ours? Mine?” 

“Always, Derek.” Stiles slurred. “Always.”

Lips pressed against Stiles’, gentle and warm. The tingling in his body coalesced into a heavy white flame in his chest. As Stiles’ mouth opened to Derek, the heat slid up his throat. It burst into his mouth, left his tongue coated in thick syrupy sweetness. Instinctively, he opened his jaw wider, licked as deep into Derek’s mouth as he could to spread the silky soft taffy between them.

Derek drank it down greedily, sucked the electricity off Stiles’ tongue until he was the only thing Stiles could taste. 

Stiles came back to himself in stages, hands clenched in Derek’s hair. A faint white glow trailed along his skin, kissed its way across Derek’s nude form. Stiles smiled. Yeah, his magic had always liked Derek.

“Oh my god.” Stiles murmured, watching as the light pulsed where Derek drew his hand down Stiles’ bare forearm. Each pass of lightning from Derek’s fingertips left streaks of goosebumps, but something else sang deep inside himself. “Oh my god, I can- I can feel you. All of you. I can… oh my god.” He stared at Derek, slack-jawed.

Derek smiled. “We ground you,” he murmured back. “You’re anchored now. There’s nothing to be afraid of anymore, I’ve got you. Just like you've got me."

“Not that this isn't, like, horrifying to watch or anything,” Scott said on a groan, “because it absolutely is, but. Guys? I smell smoke. Also, you know, the Sheriff needs us? I mean, congratulations and all, I think I owe Erica like, fifty bucks now, but seriously. So not the time. Also, dude? I’ve been able to feel you since I figured out the pack bonds. I told you, you already were pack.”

Stiles grinned back at Derek. He took several steps away from both ‘wolves, and closed hs eyes, taking deep, even breaths as he spread his fingers wide before him. White, sparkling light filled his palms, seeming to ooze straight from his skin to hover in the night air. 

“I can feel it,” he breathed. “It’s so different, now.” He clenched his fists, blotting out the light. One quick flick of his wrists sent countless streaks flying past Scott, to slice effortlessly through the branches beyond.

Derek reached out, settling one hand over the fire still in Stiles’ hand. It winked out as Derek wound his fingers through Stiles’.

Stiles lurched forward, pressed his mouth to Derek’s hard and fast before he shimmied free. He dashed back to the jeep, rifled around for a moment before he spun to slap a pair of sweats against Derek’s chest.

“Hurry up and get dressed dude,” He said, as he launched himself through the driver’s open door. “I have an Emissary’s ass to kick, a bunch of ‘wolves to send packing and a Dad to save before I can even begin to figure out what just happened, chop chop, let’s go!”

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed it. There's even a sequel now ;)


End file.
